The Shelby County Office of Resilience will host three workshops this month to share updates and gather public input on the Mid-South Regional Resilience Plan (MSRRP). The plan, which will cover all of Shelby and DeSoto counties as well as parts of Fayette and Marshall counties, is the first of its kind and is being developed to address unmet recovery needs following three storms that occurred in 2011. The plan will identify future activities that will increase the region’s resilience to the effects of severe storms and flooding, extreme heat or cold, and other climate- or weather-related events. The workshops will be held May 22 – 24 and will provide residents with the opportunity to provide feedback on draft recommendations developed during the first phase of information-gathering, which took place earlier this year.

Residents are invited to participate in one of the following three public workshops during this second phase of Mid-South Regional Resilience Plan development. The workshops will provide a first glimpse at the strategies, policies, and projects proposed to mitigate the effects of and manage recovery efforts for future weather-related incidents in the area.

Tuesday, May 22

5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Hernando Public Library

370 W Commerce St,

Hernando, MS 38632

Wednesday, May 23

5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Baker Community Center

7942 Church Street, Millington, TN 38053

Thursday, May 24

5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

University of Memphis Police Services Building

460 S Highland St, Memphis, TN 38111

Development of the Mid-South Regional Resilience Plan, part of ongoing implementation of the Mid-South Regional Greenprint Plan and funded by a portion of the National Disaster Resilience Competition grant awarded to Shelby County in 2015, began last September and has been focused on understanding the climate- and weather-related threats to the region and the region’s current resilience capabilities.

Since the initial round of public meetings in early 2018, the MSRRP consultant team has concentrated on data collection, review of existing plans developed for the region, research into historic natural disasters, assessment of current threats to the region, and analysis of the region’s vulnerability to those threats. This information, along with comments and concerns gathered during the public outreach events, was used to design and test project models to address the challenges and issues that were identified.

“The NDRC grant that has been awarded to Shelby County is a unique opportunity to serve citizens whoconsistently face natural hazard hardships,” said Jared Darby, the county’s national disaster resilience project manager.

“The Shelby County Office of Resilience staff is excited about facilitating open discussions with our citizens and incorporating their thoughts and ideas into the Resilience Master Plan.”